Dry + Sparkling Mead Plan

[Halfbeak]

I've made a couple of meads in the past but they take so damn long that I still consider myself a bit of a newb, so I want to make sure this all sounds good. Plus, I'm going to have a crack a carbonating half of it to make a sparkling mead, which I've never done before.

1.5 kg honey
water to 4.5 litres in a glass demijohn
VR44 Yeast
Yeast nutrient 2 g + boiled yeast 1 g at the time of pitching. I was thinking of boiling some old kit yeast for this step. Is that a good idea?
Additonal yeast nutrient additions: 2 g at 24 hrs, 2 g at 48 hrs, 2 g at 72 hrs

Once I hit FG (Beersmith predicts about 1.024), I figure about 6-8 weeks, then cold crash for 1 week at 4 degrees.

I'll bottle half of the mead in swing top bottles and age.

I'll add 22 g dextrose (per Beersmith) to the second half and bottle in champagne bottles at continue to age at 16 degrees for a month or so to get sparkling mead.

How does this all sound?

 

[Airgead]

I've made a couple of meads in the past but they take so damn long that I still consider myself a bit of a newb, so I want to make sure this all sounds good. Plus, I'm going to have a crack a carbonating half of it to make a sparkling mead, which I've never done before.

1.5 kg honey
water to 4.5 litres in a glass demijohn
VR44 Yeast
Yeast nutrient 2 g + boiled yeast 1 g at the time of pitching. I was thinking of boiling some old kit yeast for this step. Is that a good idea?
Additonal yeast nutrient additions: 2 g at 24 hrs, 2 g at 48 hrs, 2 g at 72 hrs

Once I hit FG (Beersmith predicts about 1.024), I figure about 6-8 weeks, then cold crash for 1 week at 4 degrees.

I'll bottle half of the mead in swing top bottles and age.

I'll add 22 g dextrose (per Beersmith) to the second half and bottle in champagne bottles at continue to age at 16 degrees for a month or so to get sparkling mead.

How does this all sound?

Sounds pretty good.

Boiled yeast makes a good nutrient. Just be sure to boil long enough that you aren;t introducing any live yeast and the cells are well broken apart.

Beersmith may predict 1.024 but that's not correct. 1.000 is more likely. Meads do not atenuate like beers as there are far fewercomplex/unfermantable sugars. The attentation rate on a yeast is a measure of how well it will chew through the complex sugars. Even a really poor attenuator will ferment absolutely dry or pretty close to it in a mead as it is all simple sugars.

Cheers
Dave

Edit - I wouldn't worry too much about cold crashing either. Just let it sit till it drops clear then bottle. Or leave it to bulk age.

 

[Halfbeak]

Sounds pretty good.

Boiled yeast makes a good nutrient. Just be sure to boil long enough that you aren;t introducing any live yeast and the cells are well broken apart.

Beersmith may predict 1.024 but that's not correct. 1.000 is more likely. Meads do not atenuate like beers as there are far fewercomplex/unfermantable sugars. The attentation rate on a yeast is a measure of how well it will chew through the complex sugars. Even a really poor attenuator will ferment absolutely dry or pretty close to it in a mead as it is all simple sugars.

Cheers
Dave

Edit - I wouldn't worry too much about cold crashing either. Just let it sit till it drops clear then bottle. Or leave it to bulk age.

Sounds good. As far as bulk ageing goes, do you think that if I leave it go for awhile, it will still have enough yeast activity to carb up for the sparkling stuff?

 

[Airgead]

Sounds good. As far as bulk ageing goes, do you think that if I leave it go for awhile, it will still have enough yeast activity to carb up for the sparkling stuff?

You should do. Even when it drops crystal clear there are still yeast cells in suspension that will kick off when they get new food.

Your other option would be to pitch a champagne yeast at bottling to ensure reliable carbonation (as the do in champagne production).

Or force carb...

Cheers
Dave